The Dancing Elf

How much fun is the ElfYourself App?! It is too funny. It is a great way of incorporating dance with the holidays! I think it would be a hilarious idea for the classroom too! Maybe as an incentive... or each school day in December draw names of what student will be getting elfed! You can then take the video of the students that have been elfed and display it on the overhead for all in the class to enjoy! At the end of December you could coordinate an elf dance off using the dance moves from the app.
Technology meets dance with ElfYourself!!

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/elfyourself-by-officemax/id582486077

Time to Decorate

I am super excited to decorate the Christmas tree... I am waiting until all assignments are done so I can enjoy it. There are so many neat ways to decorate the tree, thinking of colour, design, texture, and themes. Adding decoration spruces up the house and adds visual appeal! Visual Arts goes overboard on the holidays and I LOVE it... it makes everything jolly.

I personally love the look of a traditional Christmas tree with red, green, silver, gold, and a few contrasting colours of purple and blue. I love a mix of ornaments some that have significant meaning and other ones that are just cute/beautiful. I like the look of different size bulbs and I use a large set and a medium set on the tree. I have the bulbs evenly balanced throughout the tree. I also add music when I decorate the tree, listening to all the classic Christmas songs to add to the experience!

Decorating the tree is a great family activity usually full of a good blend of joy and arguments over the lights. It is neat to collaborate on the tree with family and mix all the ideas together of how everyone visualizes the tree.

I always find that I am constantly picking at the tree after its been decorated, moving ornaments around and filling up spots that look empty. I can't help myself.. I always have to pick at the tree!!

I can't wait to start decorating..... Just writing about this gets me super excited!!

Some neat ideas of colour and themed trees. They look like so much fun! 

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/39476934206778643/

Happy decorating!!! 

Popsicle Christmas Ornaments!

Using popsicle sticks to make Christmas ornaments is a fun craft for Christmas. My parents still have the Christmas ornaments I have made from popsicle sticks in Grade 1 on their tree. Making Christmas ornaments uses visual arts to create a memory that may be cherished forever.

I believe that this would be a great holiday craft. You could have the option for students do to a seasonal ornament like a snowflake or snowman instead of a Christmas ornament like a Christmas tree. I think this craft would work well in a math measurement unit too. 

http://crafting.squidoo.com/popsicle-christmas-crafts

This craft would be so much fun and super cute! 

Art Presentations

I really enjoyed the Art presentations presented in class today. Everyone did such an amazing job and there was a vast variety of art elements that made for a very entertaining morning! The elements of music, visual arts, storytelling, and media were very appealing.  It is astonishing the amount of creativity this cohort has to offer especially considering the amount of stress we are all under... Good Job class! Your groups are going to be a hard act to follow!

Relaxing with Art

When looking at art I don't spend much time with one piece, I will usually just skim over the painting with my eyes and thats it. Doing the activity at the Art Gallery taught me how to enjoy looking at art. I picked the art piece (the painting) I was most attracted to because of the bright colours. When first looking at the painting it looked like a big bright coloured mess of random lines. It took about five seconds of looking at the painting to realize there was a pair of legs and a gas can.

www.startupprincegeorge.ca

Once the activity started and I followed the instructions of the Art Gallery tour guide, I noticed more and more about the painting and became invested in the painting. I enjoyed thinking up of my own interpretation of the painting ... taking ownership over the art. I found the activity very relaxing. I enjoyed allowing myself to close my eyes and create the painting in my mind. I also enjoyed focusing on one colour or one shape. The activity gave my brain a break from school work ... it recharged and refreshed my mind.

I could see this being a great activity to start off an Art Gallery visit for students because it would set the mood for the visit and give the visit a different sophisticated flavour. I think students would appreciated doing this activity and feel like real art appreciators. 

Gingerbread House

Christmas is just around the corner...........

By using a Language Arts lesson you could link visual arts to create a gingerbread house.
In a K through Gr.3 class you could do a read aloud of 'Hansel and Gretel' by Dom Deluise and then get the students to make a visual model ---being the gingerbread house. Students would be using a variety of material to construct their gingerbread house.

Students would make their gingerbread house to be a physical model visually representing the house from the story. 

You can also add music to the lesson - themed around the gingerbread house:

Let's build a Gingerbread Houseby Richard Graham


Let's build a gingerbread house.
A gingerbread house.
A gingerbread house.
Let's build a gingerbread house.

First we need some windows
Then we need a door
Next we need a roof
And we need some walls.

(Repeat chorus) 

Next we need a garden.
And we need a tree.
Then we need a chimney


(Repeat chorus) 

http://genkienglish.net/gingerbreadhouse.htm

It is a fun way to have some holiday joy in the classroom!

Let it Snow

Creating snowflakes during winter is a fun seasonal activity. Making snowflakes in the classroom brings in visual art plos but it can also be linked to math. You can use snowflakes to teach geometry: lines of symmetry, shapes, and measurement. Students can also make predictions of what their snowflake would look like according to pattern they have cut. Using visual arts is a hands on authentic approach to math.

                                            

The following sites have many great ideas to create a winter inspired math lesson using snowflakes:

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/mathchat/mathchat015.shtml

http://www.mathwire.com/seasonal/winter07.html

ART SHOW

Art Show 

All the many different art works at the Art Show were amazing. It was great to see all the unique art projects that everyone in Ed. program came up with.

The Art Show also gave many people a chance to come up to the University and check it out.... many parents were saying how they never been/or had reason to come up and see the University. It worked as a welcoming event for the community to be warmly invited to the University.

Many of the students that came to the Art Show were so joyful to see their artwork displayed for many to see. The students also became art appreciators as they did their gallery walk with their parents to see all the many other art works displayed by the different schools.

Pumpkins!!

I remember Trick-or -Treating as a child and seeing the most amazing pumpkins. I have always wanted to try and create a very artistic pumpkin ... but I always end up with the generic triangle eyes, square nose, and jagged smiled pumpkin. The reason that I end up with the generic pumpkin is that I get too excited to carve the pumpkin that don't take my time. My goal this year is to try and carve something different. I am inspired by the images of the following pumpkins...  

http://www.oneprojectcloser.com/pumpkin-carving-good-time/#_a5y_p=1008940

I would love to try and take my time to carve a pumpkin. This is a fun way to do visual arts!

http://removeandreplace.com/2013/10/11/38-halloween-pumpkin-carving-ideas/

Hopefully I can find the time during practicum to do some pumpkin carving!!

ART and the BRAIN

From the reading in class I found it interesting that Art can help with brain development. I did a little more research about this and found that Art can also help children that need healing. The Arts can help those children who have experienced brain trauma by helping in stimulating parts of the brain aiding to healing and development. I found a great article by Scholastic that goes into detail about how Art helps in healing, developing, and emotional well-being--- retrieved from:

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/learning-through-arts

I also found an article that explains some great skills that children gain from having Arts in the curriculum, such as : creativity, confidence, problem solving, perseverance, focus, non-verbal communication, receiving constructive feedback, collaboration, dedication, and accountability. This comes from the article by the Washington Post called 'Top 10 skills children learn from the arts'
by Valerie Strauss. Retrieved from:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/01/22/top-10-skills-children-learn-from-the-arts/
It is a great article that stresses the importance of having Art in the classroom

www.acclaimimages.com

Scrapbook!

This is the link to the Science Scrapbook that we had in our Visual Arts presentation: http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/292341main_Scrapbooks_in_Science.pdf

The link contains samples assignments, how to use scrapbooks as an assessment tool, examples of scrapbook entries etc...

Scrapbooks are a great tool that can be used to link Visual Arts to all subject areas. Scrapbooks help students to display what they have learned in a creative way by adding sketches, designs, models, songs, different textures, and on and on..
They work great for assessing student understanding and they also have an open ended element that allows for student to go beyond by adding extra detail or creativity.

Just looking at some art.....

 I went to the art gallery at the University with a few classmates and saw some very interesting pieces of Art. I saw pieces that had powerful messages, beauty, and humour. It was fascinating to hear all our different interpretations of what story the paintings and sculptures were trying to tell. It was neat to see all the different ideas that you can come up with by looking at one piece of Art and the discussions that unfold. Going to the art gallery was also just a nice way to spend your break and relax in between classes!

Image retrieved at: www.unbc.ca 

Doodling: A Productive Habit

The power of doodling, though, may extend far beyond simply remembering facts. Many also believe the activity to be an empowering intellectual force. While someone in the midst of doodling may appear distracted or unfocused, it's thought that being thoroughly engaged in this way can give your brain the opportunity to engage with and process complicated ideas. Doodlers from history include George Washington, Leonardo da Vinci and countless others.

Many people in the creative arts have also looked to doodling to help unlock the artistry that resides within them. Renowned author Lynda Berry - who incorporates cartooning, memoir and instruction into her works - cites doodling as a powerful creative force. Her latest book, Picture This, features drawings, paintings, collages, meditations and stories. The book shows how doodling can help you to explore your interior life and express yourself in creative ways.

Retrieved from: http://education-portal.com/articles/The_Power_of_Doodling_How_Doodles_Can_Lead_to_Great_Ideas.html

Doodling is a relaxing activity that refreshes the mind. I decided to doodle the other day for the first time in years. I was surprised how refreshed I felt after doodling, it was a great break from a long night of homework. I think that giving students an opportunity to doodle/sketch during the busy day of school would help to refresh their minds and sort out their thoughts.

ART LESSONS FOR ALL GRADES

http://www.incredibleart.org/

This website is full of great Art ideas and lesson plans. The site has all grade levels and shows a variety of ways to use Art in the classroom. Many of the lessons on this website can be integrated with other subjects. You can use many of the Art lessons to add and enhance to the concept your trying to teach.